


Paris Is/n't Home

by verfound



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrienette is Never Endgame, Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Home, LBSC Sprint Fic Challenge, M/M, Prompt Fic, Waydrien's a crack ship I may be side-eyeing, idk what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verfound/pseuds/verfound
Summary: Adrien’s finally coming back from London, but he isn’t coming home.  Marinette doesn’t think Paris is his home anymore.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Wayhem, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 13
Kudos: 87
Collections: LBSCSprintFicChallenge





	Paris Is/n't Home

**Author's Note:**

> I finally wrapped up the Exchange fic (with…four days to go xD) & needed a palette cleanser before jumping back into the other WIPs, so I took a crack at second run for the LBSC SFC. Prompt was “As long as I'm next to you, I don't care.”
> 
> I also…kiiiinda started this with “Written in the…well, Something” in mind, but I also didn’t reread it before sprinting this to confirm minor details. WitwS was basically Adrien trying to convince Marinette they were destined for each other, but she was Shutting That Down. There were some Self-Indulgent Second Chances when Adrien refused to listen. By the end, Adrien was heading off to London. I don’t think you’d really need to read that to read this, bc even though that was kinda my starting point it kinda turned into…this? Idk.

“He’s coming back next week.”

Luka didn’t react. At least not outwardly. He maybe shifted a little beneath her, and his arms maybe shifted her a little and settled her closer against him. The hammock swayed with his movements, but he didn’t say anything. When she peeked up at him, his eyes were still closed. His breathing was still even in her ear, his heartbeat steady against her back.

Luka had never had Adrien’s _jealousy_ issues.

…well. Not mostly, at least. She could forgive him a few self-indulgent Second Chances when she’d been just as annoyed by the Chat at the time. Even then, it was less _jealousy_ and more exasperation.

“…it’s funny,” Luka said after a moment. Marinette squirmed against him, and she felt his lips curl into a smile against her neck when he dropped a kiss there. His fingers had slipped under her shirt, teasing along the waistband of her panties. She tipped her head back and smiled up at him.

“What’s funny?” she asked. His eyes stayed closed. He kept smiling.

“Not too long ago, you would have said _he’s coming_ home _next week,_ ” Luka murmured. Marinette sucked in a breath. Luka caught her palm and brought it to his lips, pressing a lingering kiss against the skin there. “Easy. It’s just an observation.”

“He’s not my home,” she huffed. She squirmed enough to set the hammock swaying, and if Luka hadn’t set a foot against the ground to steady them they probably would’ve tumbled out. Still, she flipped so that their chests were pressed together, and she caught his face in her hands. He let her pull him down, and her kiss was maybe a little demanding. “ _You_ are, you big dummy.”

“I never said you thought he was,” Luka said. His arms had wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her just that little bit closer. “But we both know the last time he was here…”

“…he thought _I_ was _his_ home,” Marinette sighed. Luka nodded, and she pressed her face to his chest with a groan. There was a ring on her left hand, made from old guitar strings and twisting around a small diamond. It hadn’t been there the last time Adrien was in town, either.

He’d been gone longer than either of them had thought he’d be.

“Honestly, I don’t even know if he thinks of Paris as his home anymore,” Marinette sighed. “After…after _everything._ He likes London. It’s been good for him.”

“Wayhem thinks so, too,” Luka said, and Marinette snorted. _That_ had been the biggest surprise of Adrien’s…sabbatical. Kagami had visited him a month into his stay and had come home with…not exactly a broken heart. Marinette was pretty sure Kagami had resigned herself on Adrien’s affections years ago. But she had apparently not been the only one to follow Adrien to London. His Number One Fan had caught a train not two days after he’d left, and apparently they had…really hit it off. Marinette had known they’d been talking and hanging out for years, but after so many years of blind, diehard devotion towards Ladybug Marinette just hadn’t pictured Adrien pursuing anyone else.

“Stop,” she chided, kissing the patch of shirt above his heart. “You’re horrible.”

“I love Adrien, I do,” Luka said, and she wasn’t sure if it was said on a sigh or not. “It’s just the last time he was here he was pretty hung up on _destiny_ and _soulmates_. He’s never let you make a choice in the matter, and –”

“Star,” she called, leaning up. She kissed him to shut him up, and then he kissed her because he really enjoyed kissing her. “I have _always_ had a choice in the matter. And, when it mattered, I _always_ chose you. And I have always told him that, regardless of what he wanted to hear.”

She straddled him, carefully pushing herself up so she didn’t knock them over. Her fingers curled against his chest, and his eyes hooded as he watched her. His hands had slid to her hips, his thumbs brushing against the skin there.

“You’re my choice,” she said. “You’re my home. As long as I’m next to you, I don’t care what Adrien thinks.”

She bent down to kiss him, long and slow and confirming everything she had just told him, and his arms tightened around her to pull her close. When she pulled away, she was grinning at him.

“Do I have to throw him off a couple rooftops to convince you of that?” she teased, and he crushed her against him as he laughed. His fingers dug into her hair, holding her head close as he pressed his face against her neck.

“Please,” he laughed. “I know you’ve done it before – I know _I’ve_ done it before – but I would love to see it again.”

“Ok,” she giggled. “We’ll pick him up from the train station, take him straight to the Eiffel Tower, and throw him off the top.”

Luka was still snickering when she went back to kissing him. It wasn’t long before any talk of Adrien and old, hopeless crushes were forgotten in the light of what was real and tangible, a promise of tomorrow and hope for a future as bright as the stone glinting from her ring.

But the morning light brought with it another message from her partner.

_AA: Can you pick me up at the station, M’Lady? I’m only going to be in town a few days for business, and I was hoping we could grab lunch._

_AA: I have some things I wanted to discuss._

That had felt…ominous. Marinette had shown Luka the message as he was brushing his teeth, and he’d maybe spent a little bit longer scrubbing than he otherwise would. After rinsing his mouth out, he looked up at her.

“What do you think that means?” he asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me,” she said, turning her phone back around to stare at the message. Luka’s hand curled around the back of her head, tipping her towards him to drop a kiss against her hair. She smiled, taking a breath and enjoying the smell of his aftershave.

“Pick him up,” Luka said. “It’ll be good to see him again. You know you need to.”

“…yeah,” Marinette sighed, but she didn’t sound entirely convinced. It’s not like things had gone _well_ the last time she had.

So a week later, she was standing on the platform she had always associated with goodbyes and partings, dressed in a simple pink dress with a box of passion fruit macarons in her hands. Adrien’s smile had been wide and bright, and he had wasted no time in running towards her and lifting her in a spinning hug.

Once upon a time, before identities and _Just a Friend_ s and grooves, that hug might have made her dizzy.

He looked good, though. Worlds better than the last time she’d seen him, after Hawkmoth’s defeat when he had lost both parents and the supposed _love of his life_ in one fell swoop. Kagami had been right: London had been good for Adrien.

“I’ve missed you, Marinette,” Adrien said, hugging her again. She smiled warily and returned the hug, though he held her tighter than she was comfortable with. “Hey, are you hungry? I’m starving. Let’s go get some lunch. Is Alya’s mom still cooking at Le Grand Paris?”

Which found them, a short car ride later, seated in the hotel’s restaurant while they caught up on the past few years. Adrien had continued modeling while in London, still a big name in the industry despite the fall of the _Gabriel_ line, though he was also taking university classes.

“Don’t laugh,” Adrien said, glancing up at her. She raised her eyebrows, and he rubbed the back of his neck in a familiar gesture. “I’m actually back in town for a meeting with your father. I’m…studying to be a Patissier. I was hoping to set up a summer internship at the Boulangerie.”

“Adrien, that’s…” Marinette laughed, a smile curling her lips. Unexpected? Exciting? She never would have pictured Adrien pursuing a career in baking. She shook her head, laughing. “So you’ll be back for the summer? What does Wayhem think? Is he coming, too?”

“Wayhem? Why would he?” Adrien asked, tilting his head to the side. Marinette’s eyebrows rose knowingly, but Adrien still looked confused. “He’s just a friend, Marinette.”

…and where had she heard _that_ before?

“That’s…actually part of what I wanted to talk to you about, though,” Adrien sighed.

“Wayhem?” Marinette asked, and Adrien rolled his eyes.

“No,” he said. “Why – what is it with you and Wayhem?”

“There’s nothing with me and Wayhem,” Marinette said, scoffing. “I’m with Luka, remember?”

Adrien’s eyes darted to the ring neither had acknowledged since their reunion, and she wasn’t sure what to call the emotion that somehow softened and hardened his eyes.

“…yeah,” he finally said. His fingers twirled his own ring, and that was as much admission of the future as Adrien seemed willing to give her and Luka. “Wayhem’s fine. He loves London. He’s started his own modelling career, you know.”

“I know,” she said, humming. Their waiter appeared with their food, and they thanked him before they were alone again.

“I wanted to talk to you about my coming back to Paris,” Adrien said, tapping his fingers against the table. “Or…my _not_ coming back to Paris, I suppose.”

_“Honestly, I don’t even know if he thinks of Paris as his home anymore…”_

Marinette frowned, her eyes narrowing.

“I haven’t been a very good partner lately, Marinette,” Adrien continued. It struck her that, before _Everything_ , he would have called her ‘Bugaboo’ or ‘M’Lady’. Like he had in text but seemed hesitant to do in person. That should make her happy, right? Hadn’t she been asking him for years to stop? “I’ve spent more time in London the past year than I have here. And…I don’t know if I’m going to come back.”

Marinette felt like someone had punched her when he tapped the black ring on the table between them. Their food remained untouched, and it was funny how much that bothered her when it should have been the least important thing to think about just then. How she was worried they’d offend Marlena by sending back untouched food.

“I think it’s time I returned this to the Guardian,” he said, staring at his salad because he refused to look at her. “I think it’s time you found a new Chat Noir.”


End file.
